How the World Sees Jerusalem

Jerusalem may very well be the hardest issue to resolve as part of the “peace process.” Many of the participants at the 2000 Camp David negotiations blamed the failure to reach an agreement on the two sides’ positions over the future of the city’s status.

If you have some knowledge of Israel and Jewish history, you can understand why.

The city, especially the Old City, has been the historical, spiritual, and national capital of the Jewish people since there has been a Jewish people.

In 1948, amidst rejoicing over the birth of the State of Israel, the Jewish people suffered a terrible blow because the Old City had been left under Jordanian occupation. Jewish residents, some of whom had lived there for generations, were tossed out with just the shirts on their backs.

But in 1967, the area was liberated and returned to the Jewish state. The capital was moved to Jerusalem and ever since has served as the undivided capital of the State of Israel.

So why do most references to the city use the wording “…Jerusalem, which Israel conquered in 1967 and the Palestinians sees as the capital of their future state”?